The Young Desire It

“The Young Desire It is a revelation: a coming-of-age novel from 1937 that deserves a place alongside the classics in this genre. It&;s a feverish, fascinating, and surprising look into the mind of an adolescent discovering a sense of self in his quest for love. It&;s also a remarkably nuanced and moving portrait of the struggles of those around him to come to terms with their own lives and longings.”
– Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club

“A first novel of exceptional interest and originality.”—The Spectator

“Unique and very nearly perfect, a hymn to youth, to life, to sexual freedom and moral independence.”—David Malouf, from the introduction

Fifteen-year-old Charles Fox is sent away to boarding school, innocent, alone, and afraid. There one of his masters develops an intense attachment to him. But when Charles meets Margaret, a girl staying at a nearby farm for the holidays, he is besotted, and a passionate, unforgettable, romance begins.

Published in London in 1937 to wide acclaim, this is a stunning debut novel about coming of age: an intimate account of first love and a rich evocation of rural Western Australia. It won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and is now back in print for the first time in almost twenty-five years with a new introduction by David Malouf, one of the finest Australian writers of all time.

Kenneth Mackenzie was born in 1913 in South Perth, Western Australia. Unhappy years boarding at Guildford Grammar School were the basis for his highly acclaimed first novel, The Young Desire It. Mackenzie’s subsequent novels were The Chosen (1938), Dead Men Rising (1951)—based partly on his experiences after he was deemed unfit for active service in the war—and The Refuge (1954). His last years were spent alone, in declining health and succumbing to drink, at Kurrajong, New South Wales, near the Blue Mountains. In 1955 he died accidentally while bathing in a creek.